The federal Environmental Protection Agency has, indeed, postponed deadlines for compliance with financial responsibility requirements for owners of 12 or fewer underground storage tanks. In doing so, it bowed to pressure from members of Congress who stated that EPA’s tank standards weren’t working the way Congress had envisioned it.
Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the environmental protection subcommittee of the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, has introduced legislation (S 2175) designed to fix the perceived flaws. Among other things, it would establish a federal loan program for tank replacement or upgrade and provide outright grants to certain small businesses that are the only retail providers of gasoline within a 50-mile radius.
According to a report in Tank Talk, a trade newsletter, “When introducing the legislation, Baucus expressed his dismay that the UST Program was not working as planned: “We envisioned a program that would require leak detection first, tank upgrade and replacement next, and financial assurance, in that order. Instead, EPA has implemented a program where most underground tank owners need insurance even before they are required to install leak detection equipment.”
If Baucus’ bill is enacted, Hawai`i would no longer need to have its own loan program for small businesses.
Volume 1, Number 1 July 1990